Obstacles in Public Health Professionals’ Information Practice: Introducing a Conceptual Model of Working Professionals’ Information Seeking Process

Introduction. This paper reports a mixed method study involving public health professionals concerning obstacles they encounter as they seek information for work tasks. Method. This study included Phase I qualitative interviews with 12 public health professionals and a Phase II survey to 579 public health professionals in the US. Analysis. Qualitative analysis of Phase I data focused on types of obstacles that public health professionals faced. Statistical analyses of Phase II survey data identified significant differences among work settings. Results. Respondents’ confidence with their information searching skills varied among work settings and educational backgrounds. Their satisfaction with their institutional support for information services also differed among work settings and demographic groups. Work settings correlated to causes behind the obstacles. We present a conceptual model of the information seeking process for working professionals by incorporating the steps of encountering obstacles, and further steps when obstacles are overcome or not overcome. Conclusion. As a large-scale study on public health professionals’ information practice, this study revealed insights into the impact of work settings on the obstacles they encountered. The conceptual model we introduce here helps advance the scholarship and holds theoretical value.